The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1887-10-27
"whyr What's the m,ttor with Won

u
lift it. 1 felt it runnin' all over mo.
It's in our family but Two got it bad, "
and here he rubbed his arms and legs.
1T Knocked me clean off my feet he
added, "and my limbs felt like sticks.
Send" and here roar of laughter
broke from the men. and one of them,
Selling him by the arms, jerked him to
his feet
you're all right my lad; only next
time don't go fooling around old
Amos. He's hard nut"
Here's yer money, sonny" said
the old man, holding out bill
You've earned II.
What do you mean'" gasped the
athlete.
What do you mean2 Why. jest
this; Yer haven't had shock of
paralysis. Yer tried TO heft one of these
burned torpeders They'll knock n
mule down If yer gives en- The
chance. .s5G
The athlete looked 'acantly ahead,
took back his money nd left amid the
renewed laughter Of t.n crowd.
He II have yarn 20 tell the Savan-
nah folks. " said the perpetrator of the
joke. but l do hate to hear man
blow and thought I'd take him down.
Injured? NJ, stree. He'll feel stiff
for an hour or so. lMt it won't hurt
him. I've been struck by them one
hundred times, and it's no fun. can
tell yer. It's just like ng struck by
mild stroke of lightning. | don't
generally touch 'cm, but q man gave
me one dollar to fetch one in. sol kept
it in the boat. They'll shock you right
through the net. When / was a-haul-
ing in the tinker seine this morning
khowed had n shocE-ish from the
jerking of my arms The shocks come
right up the wet cording, so that some
times you can't hang on anyhow. Fvc
seen man who stuck one with au iron
harpoon, thinking ii skate, knocked
down so quick he didn' know what hit
him.
You remember old Curt, that used
to do the chores around here ten years
ago? He lived on rum; hc'd do any
thing for it. Well, Perez Haddon put
mp big job on him once. Had
had the jim-jams and he'd sworn off
any quantity of times, but always got
back again. He was just getting over
spree when Perez came along with a
shock fish. Old Curt had never seen
one before. so Perce walks up and
says: Curt, where can / get this
fish cleaned?' What's 1t worthp
says Curt. Well, half dollar, l
reckon says Perez. IN draw it my
self, says the old niger. Go ahead,
says Perez. and the old man fetched
ont his big case knife and began. two
or three of the boys gathering round.
You aim so steady aSTve seen you.
Curt says Perez, nearly bursting
a-laughing, for as soon as the old man
touched the fish his arm shot out, so
that the knife flew about three feet.
H. didn't say any thing, but picked the
knife up and iabbed it into the fish
again. You'd have thought he was
making passes like n slcight-ot-hand
chap; his hands jcrked this way and
that, and the sweat rolled down off his
face like rain. At last he dropped
her, and sat right down ON the grass
and says: Perez, give me something
to steady my nerves; I've got 'em
again. Well. old Curt never heard
the last of that, and never saw him
drink afterwards.
Whats the use of The shocks?
Why, reckon they kill fish with en-
or drive EN- Off Z"
The latter assumption is probably
correct. The electric apparatus of the
torpedo fish is its defens aud is GER
tainly good one. Its electric organs
have been compared TO the voltaic
pile, and consist of two series of layers
of hexagonal cells, the inter
vening spaces between the plates
being filed with trembling,
jelly-like substance. so that each
cell can be compared TO the Leyden
jar. Each torpedo carries about 4S0
of these batteries, t whole being
equal in power to abe 1t fifteen Leyden
jars. making $500 quare inches
charged 10 the highe st degree. The
upper side of the fish is positive the
lower negative, the shocks evidently
being entirely at the will of the
strange electrician. The torpedo is
met with frequently along the Atlantic
coast, especially along the Georgia
portion of it.
A naturalist once mli.s some inter-
es.ing experiments, one of which was
tie application of the telephone to a
torpedo, TO see if the shock gave an
audible sound. Such proved 10 be the
case, short low creak accompany
ing moderate excitement the dis
charge lasting about one-ffteenth of a
second. When the fish was greatly
excited the croak became n groan,
sounding, it was said, like the tonality
of mi. and occupying four or five
seconds. When the attention OF scien-
tific men in England was first called to
the torpedo fish, Dir. Walsh. f. R. s.,
amused himself and scientific London
with one of these fishes. after series
experiments at the lie de Re. The
performances took the form of pisca-
torial seances, and it became the rage
to take q fish shock Wondrous me-
dicinal virtue was ascribcd to it, and
the demand for torpedoes brought a
rich harvest to fishermen. Their use
IN medicine, however, was not new.
as Describes, the physician of Antony
and Cleopatra is said TO have made
use of Them.
DR.. Walsh's method was to place a
living torpedo upon wet towel; from
II plate he suspended two pieces of